Inflatable sheet-rubber toy



Augo 5 {924" F. T. ROBERTS INFLATABLE SHEET RUBBER TOY Filed y 17 1924 WARE.

' FRED THOMAS ROBERTS, OF' YOHKERS, NEW YORK. ASSIGNOB '1'0' I? BER CONSOLIDATED, INQ, OF TUCKAHOE, NEW 111 t A CORPORATION OF INFLATABLE sum-nuns Tor.

Application filed Kay 17, 1924. Serial No. 718,882.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED THOMAS Ron- ERTs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Yonkers, in the county of Westchester and State of New York, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvementin an Inflatable Sheet-Rubber Toy, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an amusing and entertaining toy suitable as a playthmg for children, or for advertising purposes, c0nvention souvenirs, etc. Inflatable toys made 15 of two sheets of rubber joined together to represent various animals are on the market, but the inability of such toys to stand upright limits their attractiveness and salabllity. My invention provides a toy having inflatable legs side by side adapted to s upport the article in an uprig t position. Thus I may make various four-legged animals which when inflated will stand on their own feet. In the same way I may provide a plurality of ears side by side. I

I accomplish the result by utilizing not only two sheets of thin rubber for the opposite sides of the animal body and the outer sides of the legs, but also an inserted doubled sheet providing the inner portions of the le s of the animal. The fold of the doubled s eet comes slightly above the belly of the animal and thus provides a suitable width in this region.

I have illustrated the toy in the form of an elephant and a donkey, though it is to be understood that other animals or objects may be made in the same manner.

In the drawing-s,Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sheet rubber elephant embodying my invention; Fig. 2 is a cross section thereof deflated, the se'ction being indicated by the line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a front elevation of this embodiment inflated; Fig. 4 is a cross section inflatedyFig. 5 is a bottom view inflated; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the toy embodied as a donkey; Fig. 7 is a vertical cross section of the same inflated, as indicated by the line 77 in Fig. 6; Fig. 8 is a detail illustrating the inflating nipple, shown in other figures as located at the end of the elephants trunk and at the end of one of the ears of the donkey.

In each embodiment the body of the animal is made of two thin sheets of rubber 10, 10 joined by aperipheral seam 11. These two outer sheets 10 extend downwardly providing the outer portions of the four legs as indicated at 12.v The inner portions.

of the four legs and a narrow portion of the belly are made by a folded inner sheet which doubles on itself along the straight line 16 slightly above the belly line of the side sheets, and is joined to these side sheets at the belly and legs by the two seams 17.

The result of the above described formation of the animal from three sheets of rubber is the production of an amusing toy. When inflated the body becomes rounded as illustrated in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 7, while the legs flare or batter outwardly from the lower portion of the body in an amusing manner as illustrated. These spreading legs form an efiective base for supporting the article when it is inflated, but occup ingno material space -when it is deflate as shown in Fig. 2.

In the case of the donkey, shown in Figs. 6 and 7, I have by similar means provided the pair of cars 20 side by side. Thus each ear is composed of an extension of the side sheets 10, and an intermediate doubled sheet 21 joined to these side extensions by the seams 22 as shown in Fig. 7.

Suitable marking or printing is preferably made on the sides of the animal representative of the eyes, ears, etc. The seams are preferably made while the sheets of rubber are raw, after which the rubber is cured and then the printing is preferably done.

Suitable nipples are provided to enable the toys to be readily inflated. To this'end I prefer to mount in the end of the trunk of the elephant, or in the end of one of the ears of the donkey, a bushing or nipple 30. This may be provided with a removable plug, or it may constitute its own valve, for instance, by having its inner portion flattened as shown at 31, Fig. 8. A suitable band 32 around the exterior of the article holds this nipple in place. With such a nipple as shown in Fig. 6 one may readily inflate the toy by blowing through the nipple, the flattened portion allowing the air to enter. When inflated, however, the compressed air presses the flattened sides of the nipple together, preventing escape. This therefore, makes a very simple check valve.

1I -Iaving thus described my invention, I c arm: 7

1. An inflatable rubber toy comprising sheets of rubber joined to each other in one region, and a doubled sheet of rubber between the other sheets having each leaf of materially less area than the adjacent sheet and having its folds joined respectively to them in another region of the toy.

2. A sheet rubber toy representative of an object having legs side by side comprising two layers of rubber joined together to make the body and the outer sides of the legs, and intermediate layers of materially less area joined to the outer 1a ers and providing the inner surface of the egs, all of the seams lying substantially in one plane when the article is uninflated.

3. A hollow rubber article with legs side by side comprising a downwardly opening doubled sheet of rubber between two other sheets of rubber each of which extends ma-- inner portion of four legs, each of the other two bein materially larger than the ad'acent leaf 0 the doubled sheet and pro- I of sheets with an inserted doubled sheet of less extent between them, the outline of a quadruped being so placed thereon'that the,

legs and belly are in the region of the doubled insert and the main portion of the body beyond such insert, the outer sheets being jo1ned to the doubled sheet where the outline crosses both sheets and the two outer sheets bein together in the other, regions, and an in ating nipple mounted on such article.

6. An'inflatable toy representative of a quadruped comprising a body and four legs, the mam portion of the body and the outer portion 0 the legs being made up of two sheets of rubber oined together for a portion of their extent, and the inner portion of the legs and a narrow portion of the belly being composed of a folded sheet of rubber joined by seams to the two outer sheets, all of the seams lying substantially in one plane when the article is uninflated.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

FRED THOMAS RoBERTs. 

